{
  "id": "98-3",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "98-3",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 105123,
      "date": "1998-07-15",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:53:28.944941",
      "title": "The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act: Hardship Relief and Long-Term Illegal Aliens",
      "summary": "Approximately 5 million illegal aliens were residing in the U.S. as of October 1996. This large\npopulation varies by country of origin, motive for entry, length of stay, family composition, and\nattachment to the community. Immigration law historically has taken these differences into account\nby allowing certain long-term illegal residents to become legal residents despite their being here in\nviolation of law.\n  For example, our law has for decades permitted the Attorney General to allow long-term illegal\nresidents to stay on a case-by-case basis if their removal would cause undue hardship. The rules\ngoverning this hardship relief (known until recently as suspension of deportation) have changed over\ntime, and, in 1996, Congress significantly toughened hardship standards in amendments contained\nin the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). Furthermore, the\nnew restrictions on relief potentially could have precluded any hardship relief for many aliens who\nhad resided here since well before IIRIRA was enacted.\n  Among the aliens who were already long-term residents when IIRIRA changed the hardship\nrules were several hundred thousand Central Americans who came here during the civil strife of the\n1980s. Under court settlements and review policies, the Government had allowed these Central\nAmericans to reside and work here for over a decade, during which time many of them established\nfamilies, careers and community ties. Not surprisingly, many Members of Congress began\nquestioning whether it was appropriate to apply new, restrictive hardship policies to these aliens.\n  The issue of how IIRIRA's new hardship rules were to affect Central Americans and others who\nwere residing here when IIRIRA was enacted was addressed in the Nicaraguan Adjustment and\nCentral American Relief Act (NACARA) (title II of  P.L. 105-100 ). Under this law, approximately\n150,000 Nicaraguans and 5,000 Cubans are eligible to adjust to permanent resident status without\nhaving to make any hardship showing at all. Additionally, approximately 200,000 Salvadorans and\n50,000 Guatemalans (along with certain Warsaw Pact natives) will be able to qualify for hardship\nrelief under the more lenient hardship rules that existed prior to the IIRIRA amendments. A large\nmajority of these Guatemalans and Salvadorans have an application pending with the Immigration\nand Naturalization Service (INS) for asylum, which is a distinct remedy based on prospective\npersecution abroad. Under procedures expected to be implemented in late 1998 or early 1999, these\nasylum applicants will be able to have their hardship relief claims decided by asylum officers (who\nusually consider asylum applications only) rather than having to wait for a determination by an\nimmigration judges during removal proceedings.\n  While NACARA benefits some long-term residents, it makes clear that aliens not covered by\nits special rules ( e.g. , Haitians and Mexicans who entered during the 1980s) must qualify\nfor\nhardship relief under IIRIRA's tighter standards. The Attorney General may have authority to\nameliorate the affect of IIRIRA for some aliens who are in ongoing deportation proceedings that\nbegan prior to April 1, 1997.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/98-3",
          "sha1": "08ea932ffbb5b70b21888bb84863bfba90bfba25",
          "filename": "files/19980715_98-3_08ea932ffbb5b70b21888bb84863bfba90bfba25.pdf",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/19980715_98-3_08ea932ffbb5b70b21888bb84863bfba90bfba25.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law"
  ]
}